Views on Home Security System - Reolink - RLK16-800D8 – Smart Security Kit in 4K UHD

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  Master Bates on 28/11/2023 - 00:48

  +4

  Bought a year or so ago for roughly the same price as Amazon are selling it now, but back then only a 3TB HDD was included. Overall, I am happy with it for the price.

  Experience after using it:

  • App is good, notifications are good. Slight delay getting the feed up, but NVR is recording 24/7 so you won't miss the action unlike some of the WiFi cameras.
  • Note that the smart detection isn't that smart. To set it up you resize boxes for each camera for the relative size of a person and car depending on viewpoint of the camera. Lots of false readings can occur, e.g. if a bird flies by at the right distance, plant shadows on a windy day. I'm no expert, but I guess you can't expect much more a this price point. Also note that you can mask certain areas of the screen to ignore alerts, but it doesn't seem to work for me.

  How easy was it to install:

  • Simple plug and play. Installing cameras was easy. Included cables are of very cheap quality (Copper Coated Aluminium). Installing it yourself is possibly against building code. Cables are long enough to get to most places. Unlikely to be outdoor rated, I have fed through conduit. Rat made short work of one cable, I spliced it until I can upgrade all the wiring to stronger stuff.
  • Cameras can easily be twisted off of their mounts, there is no security measure to stop this happening, so think about placement carefully.

  Support provided by Reolink:

  • I haven't had to contact Reolink about this system, but contacted them about some E1 Pro WiFi cameras that behaving badly when panning. Reolink support was relatively helpful at the time. Warranty was offered through the retailer (eBay seller) but decided against the cost and effort after contacting them. Consider where you purchase from carefully (Amazon possibly have the best support).

  Anything else:

  • Consider buying a UPS so that you have a backup power source in case the burglars turn off your power at the fuse board.
  • 

    prago on 28/11/2023 - 20:33

    Thanks for such a comprehensive response. ANy views on Swann vs HikVision vs Reolink

    • 

      Master Bates on 28/11/2023 - 21:16

      +1

      No personal experience with any other system, but from comments on forums, blogs, & review sites:

      • Swann - Cheap but rubbish quality.
      • HikVision - Premium product at a premium price. Concerns about CCP, but Reolink also Chinese.
      • Dahua - Same as HikVision but supposedly less concern…?!

      Others might be able to advise better than that summary.